BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session Time: 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. 

Beginner Track
Sewing Life Insurance and Charitable Giving Together
Speakers: David Simon, Insuring A Better World Fund
Bringing Life to Charities. This interactive session is about the many ways noncash gifts of life insurance can turbocharge a charity's planned giving program. Through audience participation, case studies and more you will learn how to spot, develop and close noncash gifts of life insurance. Suggested noncash gift acceptance policies, forms and marketing materials will be discussed. You will learn how gifts of life insurance can enhance the relationship between financial and planned giving professionals. This session is designed for planned giving professionals of all levels of experience, consultants for charitable fundraising, attorneys and financial planners. This session focuses on the largest, underutilized noncash gift asset class for charitable giving, the 21+ TRILLION dollar life insurance marketplace.
CFP: Participants will earn 1.5 hours of CFP credit. CCPG is an approved CFP provider. 
MCLE: Participants will earn 1.25 hours of MCLE credit for this session. CCPG is an approved MCLE provider. 

Everyone Track
Navigating the Bias Seam -  Maintaining the Dignity of Clients While Also Demonstrating Their Needs
Speakers: Griffin Burris, Director, CCS Fundraising, Megan Davis-Ochi, Gift Planning Officer, American Red Cross & Beth Lye, Director of Gift Planning, University of Illinois Foundation
In this session, the panel will discuss the delicate dance that organizations do when trying to demonstrate the needs of their vulnerable clients (seniors, disabled, foster children, low income, disaster) to donors while also maintaining the dignity of the clients they serve. How much detail into a client's life and situation is too much?

Advanced Track
Improving Donor Conversations with Investment Knowledge and Next Level Charitable CGA Strategies
Speakers: Colin Connolly, VP, Senior Planned Giving Investment Specialist & Chris McGurn, Senior Vice President, Director, Planned Giving Services Group, PNC Institutional Asset Management
With a basic understanding of investing and its impact on life income gifts, development professionals can better support their donors when talking about the topic of how assets are invested. Understanding the basics of investing and how they apply to the unique characteristics of various life income gifts should help advance your donor conversations that may include investment strategy and considerations. We will also share ‘have you considered’ creative gift strategies to go beyond the standard CGA offering and story. Create a gift based on what your donor tells you they want. Join us to explore the powerful cultivation and stewardship potential of your CGA program.

Session Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. 

Beginner Track
The Black Bequest Gap: Research Highlights, and How This Can Transform our Legacies and Values
Speaker: Jennifer Lehman, Ph.D., J.D., CFP®, CAP®, Program Director, Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy®, Wallace Chair of Learning and Professionalism in Philanthropy and Assistant Professor of Philanthropy | Academics, The American College of Financial Services
Dr. Lehman will summarize some of her research findings about bequests. Specifically, she will discuss her research comparing Caucasians and African Americans on their self-rated importance of leaving a bequest to family, charity, and religion, possible reasons for the bequest gap, and what opportunities this presents for education and service to a community. Prior research has shown that Blacks are less likely than Whites to have a charitable estate plan. Is this a documentation barrier, or a preference? Also, as a whole, individuals give more during life, through annual and major gifts, than they do at death. Many of these donors are an untapped resource for planned gifts, some more than others, and this data can inform our conversations about philanthropy.
MCLE: Participants will earn 1.25 hours of MCLE credit for this session. CCPG is an approved MCLE provider. 
CFP: Participants will earn 1.5 hours of CFP credit. CCPG is an approved CFP provider. 

Everyone Track
Understanding the Tapestry of Affluent Donors: Demographic Factors, Motivations, and New Approaches to Giving
Speaker: Anna Pruitt, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
What are the latest trends in philanthropy for individual donors? What attitudes do donors bring to their philanthropy, and how are those trends different for different generations? Drawing on data from Giving USA, the 2023 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy, and other research, this session will provide insights into the motivations of affluent donors in the U.S.; illuminate giving trends by generation, gender, sexual orientation, and racial/ethnic cohorts; and suggest ways in which planned giving leaders can work with current donors and help encourage the next generation of donors. 

Advanced Track
With the Best of Intentions:  Maximizing the Success Rate of Bequest Commitments
Speaker: Lisa Smith, Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
A successful bequest program does not rely on bequests that come in “over the transom.” Actively cultivating bequest intentions is clearly beneficial to planned giving programs, but measuring just how beneficial can be challenging. This presentation will demonstrate methods of determining the “success rate” of an organization’s bequest cultivation efforts to generate bequest dollars. By diving into the data of bequest commitments and realized bequests, we will share strategies for optimizing the success rate of bequest commitments. Participants will come away with concrete steps they can take to more effectively promote legacy giving, steward donors who have made bequest commitments, and increase bequest gifts. 

Session Time: 1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Beginner Track
It's a Stitch Working with Women: Trends, Do's, and Don'ts for Working with Philanthropic Women
Speakers: Jill Doherty, Senior Director of Gift Planning, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science & Lauren Janus, COO and Director, Phila Engaged Giving
Despite the well-known gender pay gap in the United States, women's wealth--earned, shared or inherited, is booming. For example, by the end of 2029, women are poised to control much of the $30 trillion in wealth expected to be passed down by baby boomers. For reference, that's close to the US gross domestic product. Women across demographics give more of their wealth to charity than men do--and charitably-inclined women often look for very different relationships with their professional advisors and gift officers. In this session, hear the experiences of a Planned Giving Officer and a Philanthropic Advisor to Ultra High-Net Wealth women. We'll share our perspectives on cultivating and supporting these female givers who control ever larger amounts of wealth. In turn, attendees at this session are invited to share their experiences and tips for building and sustaining relationships with their women donors. 

Everyone Track
Stitch Together More Gifts With This One Important Thread
Speaker: Wayne Olson, Senior Director of Planned Giving, Shriners Children's
We all have something all donors want, but few receive. In this session we will explore what donors want, and how we can provide it for them. We will look at the language, the attitudes and the stories that inspire donors and stitch together a legacy they will love that honors their values. Every attendee will leave the conference with practical, new ideas they can use that day.
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Advanced Track
Six Types of Private Equity
Speaker: Matthias Mackay, Regional Director of Development - Midwest, National Philanthropic Trust
Let’s delve into the diverse landscape of private equity holdings and their potential as charitable contributions. The focus of this session is on the process of transferring these assets to your charity—and considerations for engaging with a donor-advised fund (DAF) or other charitable intermediary to receive these assets on behalf of your organization. Different types of PE gifts — Limited Partnership interest, carried interest, portfolio company stock, interest in a co-investment vehicle or interest in the management company — present distinct opportunities to involve philanthropists using assets that hold significant charitable potential.

Session Time: 3:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Beginner Track
The Warp and Weft of Donor Advised Funds
Speakers: Ianna Kachoris, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy, The Chicago Community Trust 
A real-time review of proposed IRS regulations and their implications. 

Everyone Track
Understanding the Essential Elements of a Successful Planned Giving Program
Speaker: Katrina Pipasts, Senior Vice President | Director of Planned Giving Services | Foundation & Institutional Advisors, Northern Trust
Whether your organization is launching a planned giving program or revitalizing an established one, its success requires best practices to guide the staff and board in cultivating the donor base. Successful programs incorporate key elements, regardless of the nonprofit’s size. An organization with a successful planned giving program finds ways to incorporate most, if not all, of the elements into a cohesive and cooperative process. In this interactive session, participants will rank the elements as it pertains to their nonprofit. Join the discussion and share stories of what works (and does not) at your respective nonprofits.

Advanced Track
Stitching Together a Campaign Strategy that Drives PG Success
Speaker: Kelsey Nelson, Senior Consultant, Campbell & Company
This session will provide a how-to guide to incorporating a planned giving focus into different phases of a fundraising campaign. From a campaign planning study and the leadership and major gift phases to the public phase of a campaign, various strategies can be implemented to encourage your donor community to view your organization as a destination for planned giving, and to understand planned giving as an important contributor to the health and sustainability of its mission. We’ll also explore how to use planned giving as an endowment building strategy throughout the campaign lifecycle. The presenter will walk through each phase of a fundraising campaign and its planned giving potential, sharing case studies and ending with a group Q&A.